England boss Hodgson: We're missing Man Utd striker Rooney

He will return against co-hosts Ukraine in the final group game and Hodgson knows his return will greatly improve the England attack.

"We've missed him, there's no question of that," he said.

"When you talk about Sweden you talk a lot about (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic and how important he is for them and how he can decide a game, how his individual ability and the fact he is a world class player can make an enormous difference, especially to a team which is well organised and hard working like the Swedish team is.

"We've got one of them in our squad as well. His name is Wayne Rooney and he's a world class player and there's no doubt that when we get him on the field we'll be a much stronger and more potent attacking force than we are when he's not playing.

"But his training's been excellent and his attitude around the place has also been excellent. He's been very, very supportive of the young players so he just needs now to hang on for another couple of days.

"He needs to keep helping us out in the way that he's been doing so because his chance will come soon and he's desperate of course that we go far in the tournament because he wants to play more than one game."